Breaking through a plateau in quality

[riderkb]

What did you do recently that bumped your beer quality up to the next level? What are you working on now that will let you break through a plateau?

My last big improvement came from cutting out the crystal malt. I was adding crystal to everything until I tried some SMaSH brews and found that the crystal was making my beer too heavy and covering up the fresh malt favors that I love.

Next on my list is making clear beer. I actually like the look of a little haze in my glass, but most of my beer is murky. The taste is great, but it doesn't look professonal. Mostly I just want to know that I could make clear beer if I wanted to. My water is low in hardness, alkalinity, and pH. I think that may be why I always get weak hot break. Whirlfloc doesn't even seem to help. I'm going to try adding calcium carbonate and a pH stabilizer to my next batch.

What is your last achievement and next goal?

 

[hou_me]

I want to learn more about water chemistry and how it affects my beer.

 

[FourSeasonAngler]

Greatest steps toward quality in order of importance (to me):

1. Eliminating chances for oxidation
2. Temp control
3. Temp control
4. Temp control
5. Water chemistry
6. Quality of ingredients
7. Kegging instead of bottle conditioning

 

[redwing_al]

1. moved from Extract to all-grain BIAB!
2. patience Im learning..
3. obsessive of sanitation
4. use spent grain for cookies.

 

[cjgenever]

I read books! You can only go so far without either apprenticing, years of experience (trial and error), or studying.

I've listened to all the brew strong episodes as well. That is a wealth of info.

My process has improved greatly. I was occasionally brewing decent extract brews until late last year. Now I'm brewing great beer of many more styles for way less money.

I've built/improved many things in the last year, but every change in process was researched first. Brewing is science and art. The more you learn and experience the better a brewer you become.

 

[esteiner16]

Figuring out the best way to avoid blowoffs... when blowoff tubes aren't cutting it

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[kh54s10]

My big step was temperature control, which I learned on my first brew and implemented on my second. 3 years ago.

My next step is a freezer fermentation chamber for lagers.

I am also going to look into water chemistry soon. Fortunately my tap water (filtered) seems to be really good.

 

[stpug]

Knowledge.... duh!

Well.... and, love!

(seriously, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, reading, and then a little reading. That seems to do it!)

More seriously though. If I had to put a finger on it:
-All grain (sorry folks)
-Thermometer
-Temperature control in mash
-Yeast research and proper choice
-Fermentation control for yeast of choice
-Drinking while still fresh (i.e. 2-5 weeks old)
-Oh, and, a little reading and love

 

[dobes]

most recent upgrade is mash temp control. Built a hermes system and works great.

 

[jrgtr42]

Biggest changes I made was to do yeast starters, and be able to somewhat control my fermentation temps - or at least keep in mostly total darkness and not by the window in my old apartment.
THis also came at the same time as switching to all grain, and a full boil.
I most recently built a wort chiller, and while I don't know that it has really affected the quality of the beer, it's nice having it down to pitch temps in ~20 minutes versus well over an hour in ice baths.

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

A quality thermometer.

Those dial thermometers they sell at the LHBS are unreliable. I can read the mash temp n strike water with the same thermometer at the same time guaranteeing a more precise mash temp.

 

[passedpawn]

A quality thermometer.
View attachment 220801
Those dial thermometers they sell at the LHBS are unreliable. I can read the mash temp n strike water with the same thermometer at the same time guaranteeing a more precise mash temp.

Don't drop that in the mash. I had one of those, the mash ate it. Display went kaput.

Dials can go kaput too. My Blichmann got foggy and is unreadable now.

IR gun is the only thing still working besides the thermocouples that plug into my panel.

 

[zmanzorro]

1. Temperature control
2. Yeast starters
3. All grain
4. Kegging

The biggest jump was definitely temperature control.

 

[BobBailey]

Water. My water here is terrible so I started using RO water, adjusting the PH of all my brewing water to 5.5 with phosphoric acid and using a teaspoon of Calcium Chloride, Gypsum or a combination of the 2, depending on the style, in the mash.(6 gallon batches) Thanks Gordon Strong! Not only are my beers much crisper and cleaner, but most have been crystal clear as well.

Bob

 

[Qhrumphf]

Let's see, the recent changes-

1. A while back, but investing in a Thermapen was a big one for me. HUGE jump in consistency now that I can accurately hit the right mash temp (instead of right within a few degree tolerance of a less than ideal thermometer).
2. Switching from just treating sparge water w/ extra calcium to acidifying it too.
3. Most recently, switching from bottle conditioning everything to putting my English beers into polypins and doing cask at home.

 

[te-wa]

ive found that pitching a big starter (on the edge of overpitching) can ferment a good beer out to FG in just a few days. beer seems to clarify better and faster with MORE yeast. i dunno why, but they are clear as a bell after a week. no finings, no cold crash. did a red chair clone w/ 5 days primary, racked to corny and carbed after another 5 days. so... carbed, super clear, delicious from grain to glass in 15 days. in the past i'd primary for at least that long.

im doing a recipe from here that lists a single vial of WLP yeast in the wort, with no mention of a starter. for a 10% RIS, its no surpise ppl are reporting "fusels" in their beer. im gonna pitch a 3L, 1.042 starter and let it sit a month at 60°

so that's my biggest improvement. i think i'll work on getting cold break within a shorter period. im going on a half hour w/ a coil chiller, but a plate should do the job in 10 minutes.
practice makes a better brewer!

 

[grathan]

Some things to work on:


Discerning muddled flavors.

Move beyond just gypsum for water additions, spefically working sodium and pH into beer flavor

Continue improvements in shelf life and have a better understanding of which ingredients fade and when.

I'd like to mess with filtering at some point.


Understanding favorable vs unfavorable ester profiles for my favorite yeast strains.




Some things recently discovered:

Lagers are easy and the yeast can be delicious

I am fond of special roast, white wheat, aromatic, carapils, crystal hops, and honey malt

Skipping o2 can make a beer more flavorful

 

[riderkb]

ive found that pitching a big starter (on the edge of overpitching) can ferment a good beer out to FG in just a few days. beer seems to clarify better and faster with MORE yeast. i dunno why, but they are clear as a bell after a week. no finings, no cold crash. did a red chair clone w/ 5 days primary, racked to corny and carbed after another 5 days. so... carbed, super clear, delicious from grain to glass in 15 days. in the past i'd primary for at least that long.

This rings true, especially for low gravity beers. At OG 1.040 the best drinking is less than a month after brew day. I usually go grain to glass in 21 days, but I would do it faster if Saturdays were closer together.

 

[Yooper]

I'm going to try adding calcium carbonate and a pH stabilizer to my next batch.

What is your last achievement and next goal?

Improving water chemistry is a great way to improve your beer- but don't add EITHER of those items to your mash if you want to improve your beer. You should never add chalk (unless you know how to bubble c02 over it to dissolve it), or the 5.2 buffer stuff. There are other things that do work, and would improve your beer, though.

For me, the greatest improvement came with fermentation temperature control and proper yeast pitching rates. Getting an RO water machine took it to the next level, as my water is very high in bicarbonate.

 

[KendallAdkins]

I am a pretty new brewer, especially to all grain, so I wouldn't say I have hit a plateau yet, but there are things I work on every batch.

1. Temp control on my mash.
2. Proper aeration before pitching yeast.
3. Not drinking too much while making homebrew.
4. Sanitation.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

My most recent move was to get a lab-grade full immersion spirit thermometer with NIST certification to calibrate the rest of my thermometers with. When I calibrate them, I measure at the temperature I most likely will be reading it at - 150 for my mash tun, 170 for my HLT and 65 for my boil kettle. I still have to check my fermentation temp controllers, and although I can't calibrate them, (although the STC1000 _might_ have calibration ability - I'll have to check), I can note how far off they are at fermentation temps.

 

[unionrdr]

I've experimented with water sources over the years. So far, White house artesian springs is quite good, but Giant Eagle spring water gives better hop qualities. both bittering & flavor/aroma. Just a little bit better. I need temp control myself. But lacking that, watch the extended weather forecasts to see when those cooler weeks are coming, & brew then. You'd be amazed at how well that can work out. Rehydrating dry yeast also helps a lot. I rehydrated an S-04 for my ESB & it fermented out & was clearing in 10 days flat! And no blow off on that one. Chilling some gallons of spring water in the fridge a day or two before brew day is the norm for me. Chill wort to 75F or so, then strain into FV & top off with chilled spring water. Get's it down to 65F easy. Even lower if I chill the wort down further. Those 10 1/4" dual layer fine mesh strainers are a good thing to have in my opinion as well. Less trub & yeast compacted on the bottom means more bottles of beer in the end.
After trying dial thermometers, laser ones, etc, I found the floating thermometers are the best. I have one for the mash & one for the sparge water. Sanitation & cleaning with Starsan & PBW take care of cleanliness. I have Dobie brand scrubbers, aquarium lift tube brushes, Bottle brush, carboy brush & Line brush to keep tubing, spigots, etc clean & sanitary.
And yeah, I learned to save the drinking of home brews for after brew day is done as a reward. I like to be on top of things mentally at that point.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Going to all grain BIAB has made an incredible improvement for me.